A loveable young dog at the Livingston County Humane Society has garnered a lot of interest throughout the county and even as far as Florida and Texas.

Shania, a 4-1/2 year old German shorthair pointer, has been dealing with a degenerative spine disease, which decreases mobility in her hind legs.

Susie Ricketts, manager at the humane society, said that she, along with other staff and volunteers, approached the LCHS Board about doing some fundraising for a special wheelchair for Shania.

“Shania’s only detriment is her spinal issue,” Ricketts said. “A dog like Shania doesn’t come around often. A sweet, affectionate, loving and forgiving girl — she’s one in a million.”

Travis Wyant agreed, “The most incredible part of this whole ordeal is that Shania has never once shown any signs of pain or wanting to give up. She has shown hope and courage and has been an encouraging example to everyone that no matter what problem you may have, you need to make the best of it.”

The inspirational pup came to LCHS in June as a relinquished pet. She was very underweight and the spinal problem wasn’t evident until the staff at the humane society had gotten her weight up.

“In October, she wouldn’t get up one day, so we took her to the vet and had X-rays done and found out that her lower discs are completely collapsed, and she also has spondylosis, which means bone spurs on her spine. They’re already on two vertebrae. The entire spine is already degenerating, so over time, there’s no surgery to correct it, there’s nothing to make it better, so she’s going to lose all mobility in the lower spine,” Ricketts explained.

After receiving approval from the board, the staff and volunteers set out to raise a whopping $1,500 for a special wheelchair that Rickets found at handicappedpets.org, and in about a week’s time, they have raised $800.

“We’re hoping that maybe by the end of next week we’ll be able to order the wheelchair and get it before Christmas,” Ricketts said.

She added that the grand total will include the wheelchair and shipping. When a family decides to adopt Shania, the wheelchair will come along with her, and the LCHS is also planning on including her medication.

“The wheelchair is fully adjustable, and our intention is to get her trainer to use it and initially, she’ll use it as support in the back and eventually, it will be used to completely support her and her legs will go up in a sling. Also, if she gains or loses weight, staff or whoever adopts her can make an adjustment. The wheelchair will go with her and we also planned on sending six months or more of her medication to her perspective family just because we know it’s expensive,” Ricketts said.

Page 2 of 2 - Shania was in great spirits Thursday morning, posing and winking for the camera.

“As you can see, she’s a great dog, full of energy and she’s so loveable so we didn’t just want to say let’s give up, because she still has a lot of life left in her,” Ricketts said.

From fliers up around the county to the LCHS Facebook page, donations have been coming in from all over the place.

“Paypal has been a big part of the donations, which has brought in about $500 of the $800 we’ve collected so far. It’s been a huge amount, but it’s been from a lot of people, which I think is even better than having big donors because you see just how many people are willing to give, even if it’s $5 or $10,” she said. “It’s people from all over. We’ve had donors from all over. We’ve had people from Florida and Texas donate money through Paypal who just heard her story. The rest has been from walk-ins or mailing donations. We have fliers out with envelopes attached so people can pick them up. It adds up and that’s what we’ve been saying, even if you can only donate $1, it still makes a difference.”

To learn more about Shania or find out how to make a donation, visit the LCHS website at www.lchumanesociety.com or visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LivingstonCountyHumaneSociety.